Click HERE to download a printable PDF of this puzzle.
Puzzled? No more cross words! Read Kosman and Picciotto on “Solving The Nation’s Cryptic Puzzles.” Or watch this video.
ACROSS
1 Flawless piano (upright) rings loudly (7)
5 Claimed organization makes a kind of point (7)
9 Pushed the original high-school-equivalency certificate? (5)
10 Communicated with Obama or Bush, and used no introduction (9)
11 Hide flip-flops around rear of house to make sharp buzz (9)
12 Most important boundary in gym (5)
13 Type of feline finally made bloody (8)
15 Turkey infiltrates US spies, returning with nuclear power (6)
19 Pronounced Cap’n Crunch, say, to be like some killers (6)
20 Dot warns unreliable narrator (2,6)
22 Ahead of the French, Horton heard one sound (5)
24 One periodical in a really vacuous make-believe (9)
26 Sways and vomits tea all over the place (9)
27 Climbing plant for want of which modgnik a was lost? (5)
28 Without artifice in Mexico City, you invested in pro-choice group (7)
29 Earth, between one pole and the other, is associated with nine Across entries (7)
DOWN
1 Doctor set up coil to produce healing applications (9)
2 One who protects consumers from decay with a 21 raised (9)
3 Eventually become strangely nude inside of spa (3,2)
4 Soaring poem adopted by God’s band in the ’60s (3,5)
5 Fool takes loss at times in certain housing (6)
6 To begin with, Chaplin and MGM mascot playing a part in African Queen (9)
7 Some Kenyans, initially, might avoid smoking after intercourse (5)
8 Was in charge, for example, when ascending an overhang (5)
14 What your eyes sometimes do: take it easy when restricted by incomplete rule (5,4)
16 Is fellow brought in by sorcerer to be a bad boss? (9)
17 Rev. Spooner’s trade: automobiles for chocolate (5,4)
18 Park fan’s van lacks leads, like Bill Clinton (8)
21 By chance, nurse hoisted a firearm (6)
22 Females work on portent (5)
23 Santa’s reindeer, for instance, upset company on a holiday (5)
25 Religion is escape (5)
SOLUTION TO PUZZLE NO. 3448
ACROSS 1 anag. 5 M(AG)ICAL (claim anag.) 10 RAT + I + O 11 F([e]IGHT + C)LUB 12 G(R AND F)ATHER 13 & 16D & 22 BEE + RHO + USE 14 anag. 17 hidden 19 C + REEP (rev.) 20 GO + SSAME + R (a mess anag.) 23 BE + N(GALT)IGER 26 2 defs. 27 CO + BRA 28 rev. hidden 29 2 defs.
DOWN 2 hidden 3 B(ROAD + J)UMP 4 DEF + LATE 5 MUGS + HOT 6 GAT + OR 7 C(EL + E.B.)RATE 8 [l]LIB + RETTO (rev.) 9 2 defs. 15 CL + EVEREST 17 HEAR + TACH + E 18 SCO[tch] + URGES 20 GON(DO)LA (along anag.) 21 anag. (&lit.) 23 BAN + TU 24 GAB LE (rev.) 25 “Rome”
Joshua Kosman and Henri PicciottoJoshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto are The Nation’s puzzlers. To read more about Kosman, click here. To read more about Picciotto, click here. Kosman and Picciotto explain what they’re up to in “Solving The Nation’s Cryptic Crosswords” (also available as a PDF). Check out The Nation’s Current Issue page each week for the latest puzzle.